National Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center

The National Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center (NFCTEC) at NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) plays a crucial role in NREL's independent, third-party analysis of hydrogen fuel cell technologies in real-world operation. The NFCTEC is designed for secure management, storage, and processing of proprietary data from industry. Access to the off-network NFCTEC is limited to NREL's Technology Validation Team, which analyzes detailed data and reports on fuel cell technology status, progress, and technical challenges.

NREL uses the National Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center to process and analyze data for a variety of hydrogen and fuel cell applications.

Laboratory Specifications

NREL partners submit operational, maintenance, safety, and cost data to the NFCTEC on a regular basis, typically every three months. NREL's Technology Validation Team uses an internal network of servers, storage, computers, backup systems, and software to efficiently process raw data, complete quarterly analysis, and digest large amounts of time series data for data visualization.

Application Scenarios

While the raw data are secured by NREL to protect commercially sensitive and proprietary information, individualized data analysis results are provided as detailed data products (DDPs) to the partners who supplied the data.

Individual system, fleet, and site analysis results are aggregated into public results called composite data products (CDPs) that show the status and progress of the technology without identifying individual companies or revealing proprietary information.